Aidan O'Brien is one race away from a clean sweep of Ireland's Classic races after Moonstone scraped home from Ice Queen in the Irish Oaks at The Curragh yesterday. There was only a flared nostril in it at the line, but from O'Brien's point of view, the photograph made little difference, as both fillies are trained at his Ballydoyle yard and O'Brien's 13th Group One victory of the season was assured before the judge had announced the result.

It is rare for a maiden such as Moonstone to win a Classic, and rarer still for one to do so as a hot favourite, but Moonstone, the runner-up in the Oaks at Epsom last month, was backed with real confidence before yesterday's race to start at 2-1.

Ice Queen, by contrast, was a 66-1 chance and apparently in the race only to set the pace for Moonstone, but she stayed on well in the closing stages. Johnny Murtagh had to throw everything at Moonstone as he got in front in the final stride, while Gagnoa, trained by Andre Fabré in Chantilly, was third.

O'Brien remains on target to break the American trainer Bobby Frankel's record of 25 Group One victories in a year. He has now won the last seven Irish Classics, and must also be odds-on to become the first trainer in modern times to sweep all five in the same year, as Yeats, the best stayer of recent years, is expected to start at cramped odds for the Irish St Leger in mid-September.

"It was a great race," O'Brien said, "with two jockeys and two fillies giving it their all. It was a usual masterful ride from Johnny and Colm [O'Donoghue] gave his filly a great ride too. Moonstone ran a smashing race at Epsom and she stays very well. She is progressing well and will head for the Yorkshire Oaks, [while] Ice Queen wouldn't mind dropping back to 10 furlongs."

The Prix Jean-Prat at Chantilly yesterday was one of the few European Group Ones so far this year without a Ballydoyle representative. There was a strong British-based challenge, however, but while it picked up plenty of place money, it could not beat the in-form pairing of Freddie Head and Davy Bonilla, as Tamayuz took the Group One contest from Raven's Pass, Rio De La Plata and Cat Junior.

The same trainer and jockey claimed the July Cup at Nemarket on Friday with Marchand D'Or thanks to an excellent waiting ride, and Bonilla again deserved plenty of credit yesterday. He sat much closer to the pace than Jimmy Fortune, on Raven's Pass, the favourite, and was well placed to strike for home in the straight, gaining a two-length advantage.

Raven's Pass was closing on the run to line, but could never get close enough to offer a serious challenge to Tamayuz, who has now won four of his five starts, the only failure coming in the French 2,000 Guineas back in May.

"I knew he was a good horse," Head said, "but the Guineas was a stupid race. We had a bad draw and had to wait and wait and it ended up being a bad sort of race. I knew this race would suit him, but I was surprised when I saw the entries as it is usually much easier. We will have to talk to Sheikh Hamdan [Tamauyz's owner], but the Prix Jacques le Marois would be the obvious race for him."

Raven's Pass has now finished second, third and fourth in his three races at the highest level, and is likely to go to the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in search of his first Group One victory.

"He has run a blinder," John Gosden, his trainer, said, "but the winner has ridden a good race. He probably got too far back and ran out of ground. He's likely to go to the Sussex now. He'll be able to position himself a bit better there and we'll have a go at Henrythenavigator again."